bambi eyes || tradley

11. the other side

Tristan followed the directions given to him. Their surroundings stayed constant, but the curly-haired boy didn't shut up about them nonetheless. There were a few patches of colourful flowers here and there, which sparked up Bambi's excitement even more. Tristan wondered what fascinated him so much about the outdoors. It basically surrounded him every breathing second of his life, but whenever the small boy came in contact with nature, he couldn't resist admiring it.

(Although, the twenty-one-year-old may or may not have thought it was rather cute.)

"I think we're here," Tristan announced as a shimmery lake came into view. It was nearly as beautiful as the mesmerising photos on Google Images. The younger boy loudly gasped, ten times more dramatic than the reaction on the Internet, widening his eyes at the sight whilst Tristan let out a long breath of relieved air at the sight of no human beings around the lake, making it easier for the two boys to explore the area without anyone around to question their behaviour.

"Oh my, can we live here, Tris?"

Tristan watched the smaller boy excitedly stare out the window and taking in his surroundings as the light-haired man contemplated whether he liked the sound of the 'we' in that sentence or not. 

"Um..." the twenty-one-year-old slowly trailed off, carefully pulling his vehicle into the empty parking lot of the lake. Before Tristan had a chance to cut the engine off, the curly-haired boy was scrambling out of the car and speeding off towards the large circle of water, his arms open wide.

"Bambi!" Tristan shouted after him, racing out of the vehicle and slamming the door closed behind himself before taking off through the tall blades of green grass after the excited small boy. The twenty-one-year-old widened his eyes as Bambi began pulling off his clothes and carelessly throwing it in the grass as he ran. "No! Don't -"

The curly-haired boy splashed in the circle of blue water, cutting off Tristan's  sentence as he disappeared underneath the lake. Tristan paused at the edge, frowning at the still water. "It's not even warm enough for swimming! And you know snakes exist, right?" he said to the blue water, in hopes it'll cause him to climb out.

The small boy appeared from underneath, his brown hair straightened over his laughing face like a brown mop. "But there aren't any snakes in the country, silly!"

"I knew that," Tristan murmured as the curly-haired boy disappeared underwater again, his legs kicking up in the air after him. Tristan was just happy to see he kept on his boxers. "Can you please come out? We're not here for swimming, Bambi!"

He reappeared, pushing his dripping hair out of his face with a hand. "Let's just have fun first, please?"

"We're not supposed to be having fun!"

"We're never supposed to be having fun!" he complained, swimming towards the edge. "With you, there are always so many rules and being serious, and I've dealt with it for nearly three weeks! Can't I just have fun for once?"

"Well, while you're having fun, I'll be doing what I came here for!" Tristan shouted, angrily crossing his arms over his chest.

Suddenly, a wide smile overtook the smaller boy's angry features, and before Tristan had a chance to stop him, Bambi was locking his hands around the taller boy's ankles and yanking him into the lake. The older boy let out a scream muffled by the pool of water as he thrashed around, screaming and crazily kicking his legs at the water enclosing around him.

A pair of arms snaked around him as he flailed his limbs around, heroically pulling the taller boy to the surface. "Calm down!" Bambi laughed at the twenty-one-year-old continously thrashing around in the small boy's arms and coughing up water. "Tris, calm down!"